The Griffins' attack was ferocious. Those bloodthirsty creatures emitted a deafening roar and rushed towards the small detachment of ponies. Silver Shield fired his gun, killing two griffins in a row, their bodies falling on each other, their blood soaking the sand. The Griffins used white weapons, instead of guns, and that was their weakness. But there were many of them.

Clover Leaf smoothly ran through the horde of griffins, not harming a single one but also somehow avoiding getting hurt. He directed the flow of his bullets towards the turrels, which the Griffins have been employing for generations. The machines seemed to have escaped any breakages, but the Griffins near them died a horrible death, taking bullets in the knees, falling to the ground, only to be finished by desert eagles a few moments later.

White Feather shivered. His legs felt numb, and his whole body semmed to have completely frozen. From a decent distance, a griffin armed with a steel sword ran towards him. The creature's eyes were filled with blood - the white pony could see it. It desired to bring death to all equines, and White Feather couldn't stop it. He couldn't lift his gun. Not because of physical restrictions, but due to mental stupor. The griffin drew closer. White Feather could feel its hot breath, smell its foul breath, see its feathers as they stood erect as a natural shield, ready to lessen the damage from an expected bullet.

But the bullet never came. White Feather closed his eyes, ready to meet his end. Ponies say that before death, all your life flies before your eyes. For the white private, it didn't. He couldn't remeber any significant moments in his life. Born an earth pony, he always had to suffer from the rules of the ludicrous Equestrian class system. School, friends, first love, first kiss... All of those moments didn't appear before his closed eyes. Only one memory managed to wriggle through his closed eyelids, and not an old one: Fire Coat putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder, fixing the gun attached to it. The white pony decided to value that memory for the seconds he still had by meeting death face to face.

One could imagine his surprise when he opened his eyes only to see Fire Coat standing before him, pushing him back and pulling a trigger on his gun-like device. The griffin's eyes widened when it realised it was paralysed by a powerful magnetic wave coming from the black pony's device.

The Doctor didn't lose time, too. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and made his cutie mark glow with transparent green colour. Suddenly, the movement among the griffins' ranks stopped. They froze in place, affected by the Time Lord's spell.

The ponies froze as well, not from the spell but from amazement.

Clover Leaf came up to one of the griffins, touching it with a hoof. "How in Equestria..." He whispered right before The Doctor shouted: "What are you waiting for? I can't hold them for long!"

The old soldiers swiftly wiped out the immoblized griffins. When Captain Silver Shield reached the last enemy, he felt a hoof touching his back. He looked round and saw Fire Coat nearby. The black pony wordlessly gestured the Captain to step back. After that, he took the still frozen in place White Feather by the hoof and brought him back to life by pulling the white pony to the griffin. "Now you kill him," he whispered.

White Feather shook his head. "I-I-I c-c-cannot... I cannot k-k-k..." He began hiccuping.

Clover Leaf gritted his teeth and hissed: "Leave him, Fire Coat. Stop toying around."

But the black pony had grave intentions. A familiar evil grin appeared on his face and he turned around to face his comrades. "He will kill this griffin. And if you try to stop me, I'll paralise you." With that, he tapped his 'gun' with a hoof, to show he was serious. Then he turned to the shaking white pony.

"Do it. Do it now, or, after the spell gets worn out, it will kill you. And I won't help you this time," he said, somehow keeping his tone calm and assertive.

"B-b-but I can't..." The white soldier began, sniffling.

"Do it. First, lift your gun," Fire Coat started instructing the young soldier.

And, as if the black stallion's words had magical power of supreme assertiveness, White Feather lifted his gun.

"Point it to your enemy's face."

White Feather followed Fire Coat's instructions.

"And pull that trigger," the black soldier concluded, watching at the white pony attentively, waiting for reaction.

White Feather started to pull the trigger with his teeth, closing his eyes automatically, but heard Fire Coat's voice again: "Open your eyes, White Feather. You need to see your enemy."

The white pony gulped and, opening his eyes, pulled the trigger. He was standing so close that the bullet ran through the griffin's head. The bullet was a tiny one; however, the griffin's head exploded, blood splashed on White Feather's coat. The beast collapsed on the sand the same instant The Doctor opened his eyes and stopped the spell.

The griffin looked right into White Feather's eyes, its lips moving silently, It was clearly trying to say something but never managed to. Only now White Feather realised it was 'he', not 'it' - a young soldier like him, obviously recruited a few weeks before. The griffin's eyes closed, and he let out his last breath.

The Doctor breathed heavily, not sure how to react.

Captain Silver Shield shook his head.

Clover Leaf sighed in exhaustion.

Fire Coat took a step forth, looking first at the freshly killed griffin, then at White Feather, who by that time turned completely pale. "Clean kill, son," he said before turning around and walking away through the desert.

White Feather fainted.

***

The sun had already set when White Feather came to his senses. He raised his head, but then suddenly felt unbearable pain in his skull and lay his head down again with a silent groan.

When the white soldier managed to open his eyes, he saw a brown earth pony sitting nearby, holding a hoof to his chin.

"Must be tough for you, White Feather," the brown pony said. "I know - I've been tracking your thoughts and feelings all the time and I can say those were by no means pleasant ones," The Doctor continued as he stood up.

"How could I... How could I have killed a living being..." The white soldier asked nopony in particular, although it sounded more like a statement.

It seemed that Clover Leaf had heard that desperate whisper because he approached White Feather, gifting the white pony with an assuring smile.

"That's war, White Feather. You kill - or you get killed. Your choice. Right, Cap'n?" The green pony turned his head towards Silver Shield.

The Captain was lying on a pile of hay in the corner of the room, looking at his hooves. "Yes, Private Leaf..." He said obscurely, before raising his voice. "Yes, son." He addressed White Feather directly now. "To be a soldier, you must kill. That's life, son," he finished firmly.

White Feather sighed. No one was on his side... Even The Doctor trotted to the corner of the barrack, leaving him alone in the middle of the room. Alone, broken, damaged...

"So how does it feel, White Feather? See blood on your hooves?" Fire Coat suddenly asked, grinning from another corner of the room. The candle's fire lighted his coat, making it shine with all shades of red.

White Feather felt a lump in his throat, his eyes becoming teary.

"Why, Fire Coat? Why do you do this? I don't want to talk about it..." He said, ready to burst into tears.

"Look at your hooves attentively, White Feather. The blood on them will never vanish, no matter how hard you try. It will always remain." Fire Coat's voice was cold but one could sense a hint of empathy in it.

White Feather couldn't hold his tears anymore. He fell on the ground, shaking in hysteria. Clover leaf ran up to him, gently stroking his back while glaring at Fire Coat.

The captain rose from his place, gritting his teeth. Anger danced in his eyes, ready to break free any second.

"Fire Coat," he began, trying to hold the unbearable urge to shout. "Volunteer or not, you will leave this place immediately or, I swear on my life, I will kill you exactly where you stand."

The fire-maned pony rose from his place and trotted towards the exit, not looking at anypony, but holding his head high nevertheless.

After he left, The Doctor rose as well and slowly walked through the doorway. Nopony stopped him.

The night was silent. The creatures of the desert were either sleeping or preparing themselves for another day of constant survival.

Just like us, Fire Coat thought.

"But you have a goal, don't you?"

An answer to his thoughts came from behind, as The Doctor approached the black soldier.

"I forgot you read ponies' minds, Doctor. Here to teach me a lesson?" Fire Coat asked, smiling and looking up to the sky.

The Time Lord repeated that gesture.

The sky was indeed beautiful. Stars were shining, bringing their divine light over all living beings. The moon was slighly grey, with silver interludes covering it near the center. Meteor showers were unusual at that time of year, but one appeared to happen just that night. Small shiny dots were falling from the sky, following their ususal parabolic route.

So the Princesses are still alive, The Doctor thought.

"No, I'm not here to teach you or anything of the kind. I contemplate and never interfere," he said with a melancholic note in his tone.

Silence endured.

"The poor colt doesn't quite understand the situation, Doctor. We are stuck here forever. This war is to be fought for generations," the black soldier decided to break the silent wall separating them.

The Doctor resolved not to speak but simply listen to Fire Wall instead.

"This war brings profit... but not to us, Doctor." The black pony formed a bitter smile. "Cui bono, Doctor? Cui bono? I'll tell you: the royalist unicorns. This war is not fought for King and Country. It is a war for the redivision of the world.. and oil. Rich unicorn will kill millions of innocents just to get their piece of that cake... Spending souls for oil is a crime, Doctor." His smile faded. "In that case, the Griffins' royalty and our unicorns are alike. Why should we fight for them? Why should your blood soak this sand?" Fire Coat was getting more and more excited, his forehead quickly becoming sweaty. "Why don't we turn our weapons against our own oligarchy?! Celestia's not the ruler of this country anymore - money is. She can't act without permission of our oligarchy - the true kings and queens of our land. And the worst thing..." He lowered his head. "The worst thing is that in the Lunar Republic it's all the same..."

The Doctor noticed a tear fall from the black pony's face and disappear in the sand, which was still hot.

"But aren't you a volunteer?" The Time Lord carefully asked, only to see Fire Coat raise his head with a half-evil, half-mad grin on his face.

"Do you know why am I a volunteer, Doctor?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Come on, read my thoughts, I'm not going to say it out loud."

The Doctor's cutie mark glowed and his face expression changed from curiousity, to shock, to understandment. The brown pony put a hoof on Fire Coat's back. "It will all remain between us two," the Time Lord assured the black soldier.

"Thank you, Doctor. But I'm going to do it anyway, shall you tell it to Shieldy or not. I've already decided my future." A sad smile appeared on Fire Coat's face. The Doctor noticed that the black pony's face was beautiful in the moonlight. Beautiful, but old. Old, but not worn out. His flaming eyes still held a shadow of young vigour. Vigour, but not hope.

"I'm going for a walk. Alone," the fire-maned pony said. "Electa una via, non datur recursus ad alteram." With that, Fire Coat slowly but steadily walked off, to the depths of the desert, disappearing in the night.

***

Author's note.

I don't know why but this chapter seems a bit rushed, to me... Anyway, if you have any suggestions that may lead to my improvent as a writer, feel free to express them.

Also, those who get the obvious TES reference will get an imaginary cupcake.

Peace.